The present invention relates generally to lighting and, more particularly, to emergency lighting and other illumination lighting applications.
Miniature illumination lighting devices have historically used incandescent or halogen bulbs. The problem with these kinds of lighting systems is they are relatively inefficient. A substantial amount of energy is lost generating heat as a byproduct. Another disadvantage of these types of systems is the relatively short life span of the bulbs. Consequently, these lighting systems require high operational and maintenance costs.
Presently, light-emitting diode (LED) devices have primarily been used as panel lights or circuit status indicators. Other uses for LEDs can be found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,211,469, 5,130,909, 4,744,014, 4,758,934, 5,083,192, and 5,222,799. Present lights, even if they use LED devices, are manufactured and sold for a specific purpose, such as concentrated to a point of light for assembly work in the high technology industry or use in aquariums. Additionally, these lights typically require special housings, brackets, circuit boards, or the like. Since these lights are constructed and designed for one specific purpose, they are either too expensive or impossible to adapt to other uses.
Therefore, there is a need for an individual component, compact lighting system, which is easy to manufacture, install and maintain. There is also a need for a lighting system which is durable, so that the light will last a very long time without maintenance even if constantly exposed to the elements, and easily adaptable so that it may be used with many existing components such as photo cells, solar energy panels, DC converters and the like. Furthermore, there is a need for a versatile lighting system so that additional uses in the general fields of the applications may be accomplished without undue expense or effort.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a miniature lighting system, which is durable, inexpensive, easily accessible, relatively maintenance free and capable of being used under emergency conditions.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a miniature lighting system having low installation and operational costs.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a versatile lighting system which is easily combined with other lights or other lighting components in a production setting or by most consumers.
The objects set forth above as well as further and other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved by the embodiments of the invention described herein below.
The present invention provides a miniature lighting system which is durable, inexpensive and yet versatile. The lighting system has a light source and electrical component assembly located within a housing. The electrical component assembly is surrounded by a sealant in order to prevent any water or moisture from reaching the electrical connections and to permanently seal and unitize the circuitry with the housing. The housing is shaped so as to surround and protect the light source without allowing the sealant to reach or coat the light source.
The primary use of the present invention is for illumination in pleasure or commercial marine applications, in residential and commercial building applications such as emergency lighting and railings, in landscaping applications such as gardens, walkways and driveways, in vehicle applications, and in corrosive industrial environment applications such as mining.